According to a group of Xbox 360 gamers and Kevin Finisterre, a security researcher at Digital Munition, there are rumors that Bungie.Net was hacked and that a portion of Xbox Live was taken over. This hack allowed people to control gamer tags and either steal their points or purchase more points through the accounts.Finisterre says that he called Microsoft Tech and they confirmed that “accounts are being stolen and that “Hackers have control of Xbox live and there is nothing we can do about it”

Xbox Live Hacked, Accounts Stolen - Kotaku

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RTS fans should be nearing a state of ecstasy right now. If not now, then Now.

Supreme Commander has just been released, which is a title that delivers a full fledged war in a tiny little box. And when we mean full fledged, we mean strategic level stuff going down. Massive armies, massive scale, and massive fights that last hours.

For those people who want more bang in a tighter package, there’s C&C 3: Tiberium Wars which continues the futuristic C&C series: alien Tiberium crystals continue to teraform planet Earth, making life in general a bit more complicated. Not only are these things poisonous for humans, but they also contain gobs of energy (as any self-respecting crystal should), so wars are started over the control of fields of these things. Oh yeah, and these crystals are explosive, too, so watch your step.

Those of you who are fans of C&C Generals, and C&C Red Alert 2, will recognize the action packed feel of C&C 3. Unlike Supreme Commander, C&C 3 skirmish matches last around an hour - which is just around the moment things go big badda boom, in a big, green exploding way.

So if you’re looking to toast some buttocks of the classic C&C NOD and GDI factions, or the new alien faction introduced in C&C 3 (it’s about time these guys showed up, how much more teraforming did the Earth need?) then check the demo on Fileplanet or Fileshack.

Enjoy!

PS: Hey there Monkeys, long time no see!

Playing video games can satisfy deep psychological needs and, at least in the short term, improve people’s well-being, new research shows.

The more a game fulfilled a player’s sense of independence, achievement and connectedness to others, the more likely he or she was to keep playing, Dr. Scott Rigby of Immersyve, a Florida-based virtual environment think tank, and colleagues from the University of Rochester in New York found. And the more fully a player’s needs were satisfied, the better he felt after playing.

Read the truth we’ve always known at Yahoo News.

Nintendo is offering to replace the original version of the wrist straps for the Wii Remote with a newer version. Because Wii consoles shipped starting in early December already utilized the newer version of the strap, you will need to determine which version of the strap you have before ordering a replacement. To view the difference between the original and the new version of the strap, please click here.

| Nintendo - Customer Service | Wii Remote Wrist Strap Replacement

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We are very very happy to hear that Harmonix is being acquired by MTV. Thats a major deal for them, and we couldnt be happier for our Cambridge neighbors.

Just dont become sellouts to your new corporate overlords

VIACOM’S MTV NETWORKS TO ACQUIRE HARMONIX MUSIC SYSTEMS, INC. FOR MTVMTV

To Expand Music-Based Offerings by Adding Creator of PS2 Hit Guitar Hero and other Top-Selling Music Gaming Franchises

New York, NY, and Cambridge, MA. - Sept. 22, 2006 - MTV Networks (MTVN), a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., developer of the PlayStation 2 hit Guitar Hero and other music gaming titles, on behalf of MTV. Under the terms of the transaction, MTV Networks will acquire all of the outstanding stock of Harmonix for $175 million in cash. In addition, Harmonix shareholders may be eligible for incremental earn-out payments through 2008, to the extent that financial results exceed specific targets.

HARMONIX

–thanks to Dave B. for the Scoop!

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First.. sorry the news has been slow.. we monkeys have been mighty busy of late

Now…
This could be a cool new development in the whole graphics scene. Raytracing is a very sweet look. (think pixar)

“Need a reason for extra cores inside your box? How about faster graphics. Unlike traditional faster GPUs, raytraced graphics scale with extra cores. Brett Thomas writes in his article Parallel Worlds on Bit-Tech, ‘But rather than working on that advancement, most of the commercial graphics industry has been intent on pushing raster-based graphics as far as they could go. Research has been slow in raytracing, whereas raster graphic research has continued to be milked for every approximate drop it closely resembles being worth. Of course, it is to be expected that current technology be pushed, and it was a bit of a pipe dream to think that the whole industry should redesign itself over raytracing.’ A report by Intel about Ray Tracing shows that a single P4 3.2Ghz is capable of 100 million raysegs, which gives a comfortable 30fps. Intel further states 450 million raysegs is when it gets ‘interesting.’ Also, quad cores are dated to be available around the turn of the year. Would octacores bring us dual screen or separate right/left real-time raytraced 3D?”

Slashdot | Add Another Core for Faster Graphics

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Gamers rejoice… this guy is not Uew Bolle. And that means that our beloved Halo movie is at least not in the hands of a retard.The director will be Neill Blomkamp and he has a little Sci-fi TV background, though he has not faeture films to his credit just yet. Talk about starting with a biggy. On the bright side, it looks like Peter Jackson is very hands on, and helping the green director out.
Quint from Aint It Cool News got an interview with the man, and it is sounding good so far.

Quint: How faithful do you plan on staying to the design of Master Chief’s armor?

Neill Blomkamp: Master Chief is certainly something that I do not want to change too much at all, there are certain things inside the Halo universe that are sacred and he’s the main one.

Ain’t It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

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Stories like this are amazing. I just love reading about them.

Cambridge, MA – The Infinite Mind, public radio’s most honored and most listened-to health and science show, is opening a virtual world headquarters and broadcast facility in the 3-D virtual world Second Life.

The Infinite Mind Comes To Second Life

via Terra Nova

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This is simply bad-ass. A new technology unveiled at Siggraph, is demonstrating how they can now capture volumetric data as well as motion capturing. Basiclaly they use makeup to capture positioning within space. Instead of 10 balls on your joints in a mo-cap session, now you have a million on your face. Its pretty sweet, and it will only enhance the games that adopt it.Cool indeed.

Mova

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The final word (for now) is that rather than being outright cancelled (as one certain online publication continues to claim it is) E3 is being retooled for just a press-retailers event. There something to be said for having an event that puts the focus of the world on your industry and for the past 12 years E3 did that and this new E3 could still continue to serve that purpose. There are also other benefits for having such a trade show as well, even a reduced one. Let’s look at the good and the bad for E3’s downsizing.

E3 2007 Revamp: Industry Comments

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